Mr. Obama did support several Democratic provisions that were among those ultimately blamed for undermining it. He introduced an (ultimately losing) amendment curtailing a proposal to award green cards based on a point system that valued education and job skills more than mere family ties. And he joined with most of the Senate Democrats to support an amendment supported by labor groups and widely viewed as harming the bill by limiting the guest worker program at its core.
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The key votes, however, came from four Republicans who initially voted against the amendment but switched sides at the 11th hour, they said, to destroy the broader bill. Mr. Obama did face some accusations of political expediency for siding with labor on a provision that was not favored by the Democrats who had forged the fragile, bipartisan compromise.
